You know your statement of Kerry's supposed weakness on national defense deals only with his voting record on legislation and funding of weapons systems, base closures, troop levels, etc. I'm certain, that if you looked into records of every Congressman that has served 20 years, you could come to similar conclusions. You have to remember that every piece of law that comes before Congress is not some single issue piece of paper. They are loaded down with amendments, pork and often many things completely unrelated to the title of the legislation. I would hope that a seasoned senator would from time to time stand up to these if the hidden agendas create more problems than the implied intent of the bills.

Sometimes, slimming down weapons systems or intelligence services could actually have the effect of increasing national security. Often simplicity in operations make them more efficient and manageable. A tight, condensed armed forces can be much more mobile and versatile than some overbloated and widespread force.

I'm afraid that, given the facts as they've been stated in this campaign, it seems to me that one term in office of a President dealing with a single conflict pales in comparison to 20 years of service in a Congress that's had to deal with multiple skirmishes and engagements.

I am absolutely certain that there were bills where Kerry voted completely different than my preference would have been and in many cases his tendency towards liberalism would've been more than my centrist ideals could've stomached. However, I simply cannot make that stretch that because of the garbage numbers Bush and company are putting out about his voting record, I can deduce that the man would cause our country to have a weak defense.

Let's look at it this way, with Kerry, only in one year out of 20 years of service, was the United States attacked within its borders. The first year Bush was involved in national politics he experienced an attack. That's 95% of Kerry's years in office that he protected us from terrorists. Bush is batting only about 35% of his term that we had safe years. Aren't numbers fun?